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an unsupported assertion based solely on your beliefs

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ORIGINAL: HannahLynHeather
ok, please explain to me how the definition of a delusion does not apply to religious belief.

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ORIGINAL: HannahLynHeather

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an unsupported assertion based solely on your beliefs

what unsupported assertion did i fucking make?

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ORIGINAL: DecadentDesire

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ORIGINAL: HannahLynHeather
ok, please explain to me how the definition of a delusion does not apply to religious belief.

Tommorrow, when I wake up, I will be waking up to a host of unknowns. What if I suffered a car accident and was driven into poverty from medical bills? What if my company wasn't able to replenish it's pipeline with new contracts and I am layed off? What if I never meet the love of my life and die alone with a ton of cats?

And when I do wake up, I will deal with these potentials unknowns with optimism. The belief that things will, in fact, work out and if they do not, then I will be able to properly deal and overcome the obstacle.

Of course, there is no logical reason for me to think like this. No logical reason for me to assume that things will work out. Given that I am just a mere human, the scenario of an obstacle that I cannot overcome is all too realistic. Therefore, there is no logical reason to assume I can overcome any obstacle in pursuit of happiness.

So, in light of this, would you consider my optimism to be a delusion?

What about love? I'm not talking about the chemical reaction that drives us to procreate, but the great mystery of the deep emotional bond between two people that we call "love". The emotional bond that can grow so strong that people will kill themselves at the loss of a significant other, because of a belief that they cannot live without them.

There is nothing to logically support such a belief. In all reality, they are physically capable of going on without this person. They managed to do so before they met that person and no reason why they can't after they are gone. After all, this "bond" between then isn't like a roll of duct tape, physically restraining them from living. It's just something in their heads.

In light of that, would you consider people who experience love to this depth to be delusional?

The human experience is chalk full of things that cannot be simply categorized into "real" and "not real", "true" and "false". A lot of these things we won't normally consider to be delusions, because they are a common experience. We accept them as normal and part of life and it's not until they are scrutinized that the lines between reality and delusion are called into question.

Belief in God is kind of like one of those things.

You asked what the difference is between belief in God and belief in a 6 foot tall bunny rabbit. Well, the difference is that the belief in a 6 foot tall bunny rabbit is an anomaly. It's a experience shared by only a tiny, microscopic percentage of the human population. However, man's faith in God and his personal quest for higher truth is an experience shared by the vast majority of the human race. Entire wars have been fought over it, incredible organizations have formed over it, and the number of books written about it could fill libraries.

The overwhelming majority of the human race experience God in some shape or form just like the overwhelming majority experience love or approach life with optimism. To chalk that experience up as some psychological delusion, an anomaly on par with a few people believing in a 6 foot tall giant rabbit, is simply insulting to the intelligence.

And that's all I have to say on this subject. I'm not getting dragged down into this rabbit hole.

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ORIGINAL: HannahLynHeather

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you would have more time to consider ethical teachings

i'm all for ethical teachings, its just the need to hang them on the belief in a non-existent deity where i have a problem. and i wouldn't really have an issue with that either, if the fuckers who believe wouldn't insist that the world take notice of their delusions and make allowances for them.

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ORIGINAL: Marini
Thankyou for the thoughtful post, and not being "scared" to speak your mind, DecadentDesire!!
I think many people are ashamed to admit they are a Christian on here, they are in the closet.
But let something happen to them, they are on their knee's, asking for prayers, accepting prayers, and everything else.
I will never be ashamed to state I am a Christian.

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So, in light of this, would you consider my optimism to be a delusion?

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In light of that, would you consider people who experience love to this depth to be delusional?

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To chalk that experience up as some psychological delusion, an anomaly on par with a few people believing in a 6 foot tall giant rabbit, is simply insulting to the intelligence.

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ORIGINAL: DecadentDesire

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ORIGINAL: Marini
Thankyou for the thoughtful post, and not being "scared" to speak your mind, DecadentDesire!!
I think many people are ashamed to admit they are a Christian on here, they are in the closet.
But let something happen to them, they are on their knee's, asking for prayers, accepting prayers, and everything else.
I will never be ashamed to state I am a Christian.

Just for the record, I'm not a Christian, nor am I an Atheist. I'm also taking no stance on the existence or non-existence of God.

The only stance I am taking is that simplifying the very complex human experience called faith into a "delusion" is...well....dumb.

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To claim that a belief is false in the absence of evidence to invalidate it may itself be stating a false belief.

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What should these fuckers do to not be noticed?

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What about the world having to notice gays and lesbians?

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Who died and left you in charge, of who should be noticed and who should not be noticed?

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Now, since we must face the fact that there is no hard evidence with which either to prove or disprove the existence of God, that rules out classifying belief in God as a delusion right there.

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You type as if you are angry.

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ORIGINAL: HannahLynHeather

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Now, since we must face the fact that there is no hard evidence with which either to prove or disprove the existence of God, that rules out classifying belief in God as a delusion right there.

but there is ample evidence against the existence of god.
1. there is simply no evidence whatsofucking ever that supports the existence of a god.
2. every attempt ever made to prove the existence of god has fucking failed.
3. it is impossible to fucking reconcile the way life actually is with god as described by the various religions.

now i'm no fucking scientist, but seems to me if i propose a fucking hypothesis and there is zero evidence to support it, all experiments designed to prove it fail, and it contradicts the observable reality, well i'd be pretty fucking sure you'd say it is disproved.

as well, why is there no fucking common ground when it comes to just what god is like. even within christainity there are, according to the op, over 38,000 different fucking ideas of what the fuck god is like and what he fucking wants and said. if a god actually existed, one would think that the message he/she/they give would be consistent wouldn't you? they can't all be fucking right.

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Well we are going to put you in charge of studying all 38,000 and then report back which one or one's are the RIGHT ones!